Death Stranding Debuts New Trailer, Release Date Set For November 8

‘Tomorrow is in your hands.’

With those words, Hideo Kojima, along with Kojima Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment, officially present Death Stranding in its most complete form yet. After several teasers on Twitter from the Japanese video game director, we finally got to see what the hype was building towards, and it was worth it, to say the least. Check out the 9-minute trailer below, which details a huge chunk of what we can expect from the upcoming title.

You got to hand it to the marketers; they knew when to let all the hype out. The latest trailer was jam-packed with stuff to pore over and look through, as well as piece together the plot of this genre-defying title. One of the biggest surprises came at the very end, though; it looks like we’ll get to see Death Stranding this year after all, with a release date of November 8, 2019.

The trailer showed a lot of Sam’s (Norman Reedus) character, who looks like an errand guy for an outfit called ‘Bridges.’ A scene from the trailer is set in the Oval Office, where Sam is talking to a woman who seems to be the current President; the ongoing situation shows, through some very heavy-handed exposition, that America is fragmented, and that the country needs to find a way to ‘reconnect.’ It’s still very cryptic, but there is a plot in place thanks to Kojima releasing a statement on Twitter following the trailer’s release.

It’s a very novel issue to tackle, I think, especially given Kojima’s focus on socio-political themes even during his years working on Metal Gear. The trailer did show off some very neat gameplay slices involving Sam trekking through a vast open world. If I have to commend the developers for one thing only, it’s their choice of the Decima Engine, which powered Horizon Zero Dawn. The environments look crisp and detailed, and there’s this incredibly inspiring feel about journeying out into the wilds of Death Stranding, no matter how bleak the situation looks.

Of course, since Hideo Kojima himself is a big fan of Hollywood, we got to see a very star-studded cast of characters, including Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, director Guillermo del Toro, Margaret Qualley, Tommie Earl Jenkins and, to my complete surprise, director Nicolas Winding Refn. Of course, there’s also Norman Reedus and Troy Baker, but everyone knew that already.

Death Stranding is now available for pre-orders on the PlayStation Store. It’s set for a release date on November 8, 2019.